UN Security Council prepares to ratify nuclear accord with Iran

United Nations, July 15 (IANS/EFE) The UN Security Council is preparing to ratify the nuclear accord reached between major world powers and Iran by approving a resolution that is expected to be voted on very soon.

A draft of the resolution will be written in Washington on behalf of the P5+1 — the US, Russia, China, France and Britain, plus Germany — and of the European Union, and will be sent to the council “in the coming days,” the US ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, said Tuesday.

The resolution will endorse the accord and “take other important steps, including replacing the existing Security Council sanctions architecture with the new, binding restrictions agreed on in Vienna,” Power said in a communique.

She said she will work with her colleagues on the council to make sure that this important resolution is adopted opportunely so the pact can take effect.

The president of the Security Council for July, New Zealander Gerard van Bohemen, told reporters that no date has yet been set for the vote, but gave assurances that the Security Council is ready to act.

From Vienna, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the resolution will be approved in the coming days.

From here on the text should go forward without problems, given that all the countries with veto-power on the Security Council participated directly in the negotiations with Tehran.

The UN resolution is expected to reflect the periods agreed upon in Vienna for the progressive lifting of all the international sanctions on Iran, and at the same time will authorise economic reprisals in case Tehran fails to abide by the terms of the pact.

About that possibility, Power said the accord establishes that sanctions would “snap back” in case Iran fails to comply.

The pact reached on Tuesday does not include raising the UN arms embargo, which will continue for another five years, while the one on ballistic missiles will continue for another eight years.

The UN has a committee charged with supervising adherence to the sanctions on Iran, which this year is presided over by Spain.